Well, the first few weeks of SWU have been a wild ride, huh? How you doing out there?

For those of us who have played lots of card games, a lot of the stuff that’s defined this early game experience – product shortages, wild variance in single pricing, metagame concerns- is par for the course. But that’s not everyone! SWU is such an approachable, welcoming game, and that means lots of us who are engaged with it aren’t necessarily old hands at collectible card game stuff.

So with that in mind, I figured I’d address a few things that new and old players alike might want to expect as we move steadily forward into the next phases of the game’s history. Most of this stuff is great, and some of it you might want to prepare yourself for. And of course, they’re just predictions, and they might not pan out.

Here’s what my previous experience and current observations have led me to believe about the incoming Shadows of the Galaxy.

EXPECT: Meaningful New Mechanics

SWU’s design team has dropped a lot of hints about how game mechanics will evolve in each set, and while the first year of content is definitely going to build on the foundations, they’ve also said that each set will feature new keywords and gameplay elements.

I’d expect those elements to be fairly impactful in Set 2- any newly introduced gameplay element will have limited options to interact with it, and that can be a double edged sword. Expect something in this upcoming spoiler season to make you say “Whoa”, and to significantly expand the scope of what’s possible in a game of SWU.

DON’T EXPECT: Single Prices To Drop Much

Sadly, I don’t think there’s an end in sight to the $250 Vader playsets, even though more Set 1 product is coming. Shoutout to my good buddy ChaosTheory, who called this in a big way- he figured on prices in the neighborhood they’re in now, whereas I (and many others!) assumed that the print volume of this first set would drive down prices of even the chase Legendaries.

Yeah…that didn’t pan out, huh? It turned out that people gravitated towards the best/coolest pieces just like they always have. I don’t see a future where the reprint of Set 1 increases supply enough to meaningfully depreciate the best cards. Everyone wants playsets of Vader, Boba, Luke, and Falcon, and that’s just pretty unlikely to change. Set 2’s Legendaries may not hit those heights, but it’s safe to assume there will be some great cards in there too, and I doubt they’ll come cheaply.

SWU remains a pretty affordable game in the grand scheme of the TCG space, and there’s a lot of fun to be had even if you don’t rush out and buy 3x of every meta Legendary. But $50+ for a great, widely played Legendary may stay somewhat normal.

EXPECT: The Meta To Diversify Substantially

The Set 1 meta hasn’t been solved, but it’s certainly settled. There’s a pretty astonishing variety of success stories out there, but the decks perceived to be at the very top (Boba, Iden, Sabine) genuinely may not be displaced over the next few months. Some folks are a little dismayed by our new (green) overlords.

For that crowd, I have some good news- there’s virtually zero chance that the meta doesn’t shake up big when Shadows drops. Doubling the amount of cards available to players will inevitably have huge impacts on competitive play.

Just to pick on one example- one of the big reasons Boba is so strong at the moment is that he’s able to put together a 50 card decklist where everything works towards a common goal. Lots of color combinations just straight up can’t do that right now…but after Shadows? It’s very reasonable to guess that underserved decks will be replacing poor cards with good ones, while existing good decks will have more lateral shifts, increasing parity across the board.

The best cards will stay great, and new stuff won’t holistically replace old stuff, but you can rest assured that the wheel will break and a lot of new combinations will bust through to competitive viability. Count on it.

DON’T EXPECT: Boba To Disappear

Yeah. He’ll get new pals in the top tier, but it just kind of doesn’t seem possible that a Leader as consistent Boba will drop off in a big way any time soon.

The nature of his design means that it would take irresponsible levels of power creep at an unheard of pace for Boba to stop being relevant. In fact, you kind of have to imagine this next set will feature some Underworld trait support that may make him even more dangerous if he can find the right cards to cut. Buckethead may lose his place on the very top of the pile, but as long as midrange decks are in any way viable, he should be a part of the competitive conversation.

And really, I think you can say this about all of Set 1’s most successful Leaders. I’m very optimistic that the amount of deck selection at the top is going to strictly expand.

EXPECT: An Incredible Draft Experience

Spark of Rebellion is my favorite TCG draft experience ever, in large part because the set’s construction facilitates it so well. And all the things that make SWU so fun to draft- versatile single-aspect commons, Leader+Base in every pack, 16 card packs, approachable mechanics, thoughtful internal balancing- aren’t going anywhere in the second set. We’ll just be lucky enough to experience a whole new set of cards on top of that solid foundation.

A few years down the line, discussions on the best SWU sets to draft will likely feature lots of different answers, because I just don’t see a reason to believe that draft will ever stop being fun. Every set will have its own unique flavor, and I can’t wait to try it out in Shadows of the Galaxy.

DON’T EXPECT: Product To Dry Up Quite So Fast

With all this talk of draft, it’s natural to wonder whether there will be product around to do it with! I think there’s a lot of historical precedent to feel positively about that.

Almost every TCG experiences a massive first set boom that levels out. The second releases of most every game I’ve played of have marked the point where product availability, largely speaking, stabilized. Shortages still happen past that point, but they usually have extenuating circumstances, like a set with an unusually high number of crazy strong cards.

I don’t see anything that makes me think SWU will break this trend. Players now have a much better sense of how much product they really need, and distribution will have worked out some kinks. I imagine it won’t be nearly as tough to find Shadows a month in as it is to find Spark at the time of this writing.

A Bright Future

Taken as a whole, it’s just really hard for me to not be pumped about where Star Wars Unlimited is going. We hope you feel the same, and we hope you’ll stick around right here with the GarbageRollers as we watch it unfold together.

May the force be with you!